Four new members inducted into Texas Aviation Hall of Fame

FILE -- George W. Bush is shown in this undated file photo when he was a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. Whether former President Bush helped his son get into the Guard to avoid Vietnam has been an ongoing controversy. The younger Bush maintains there was no undue influence. (AP Photo/George Bush Presidential Library, File)

Photo: ST

The Lone Star Flight Museum recently offered a hard-hat tour of its new 130,000-square-foot building, which is scheduled to open later this year at Ellington Airport and at the same time inducted four new members into its Texas Aviation Hall of Fame, including a former president and a 100-year-old Air Force squadron.

The museum offered a Feb. 7 tour of its new $38 million facility, which is still under construction but is scheduled to open Labor Day weekend.

The new museum will house the Hall of Fame, the museum's aviation history displays, and a slate of new interactive exhibits that explore the science of flight.

The new hall-of-famers are:

President George W. Bush

Bush trained as an Air Force pilot in 1968 and '69 at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, then was stationed at Houston's Ellington Field, where he flew F-102 fighters with the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. He went on to become governor of Texas and, in 2001, president of the United States. He joins his father, George H.W. Bush, and Dwight D. Eisenhower in the hall of fame.

(Whether the elder Bush helped his son get into the Guard to avoid serving in Vietnam was an ongoing controversy during George W. Bush's run for president; the younger Bush maintained there was no undue influence.)

Major Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois (1879-1967)

Foulois learned to fly in 1910 when he was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, then established one of the first military airfields nearby, at what is now Kelly Field Annex.

He helped evaluate the first military planes that were purchased from the Wright brothers, and in 1911 he was the first to fly 100 miles nonstop - one of several firsts in his career. Foulois was Chief of the Air Service during World War I and retired as a Major General in 1935.

Albert W. "Al" Mooney (1906-1986)

A self-taught aircraft designer, Mooney founded Kerrville's Mooney Aircraft Company in 1929. The company exists today, and current Mooney aircraft, famous for their speed, owe a lot to Mooney's original designs.

Later, as chief engineer for the Alexander Company, he designed the Bullet, a high-speed aircraft with patented retractable landing gear. Mooney ended his career at Lockheed, where his designs eventually became the Lockheed JetStar, a business jet.

The 111th Aero Squadron

Now known as the 111th Reconnaissance Squadron, this is a unit of the Texas Air National Guard 147th Reconnaissance Wing based at Ellington Field. It was established in 1917 at San Antonio's Kelly Field, then reformed in 1923 as the 111th Observation Squadron.

During World War II, the unit went to North Africa, Sicily and France as the 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, then was deployed to Japan during the Korean War. After the Korean War, the unit returned to Ellington Field as the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. But its glory days kept coming: After Operation Iraqi Freedom, the unit was renamed the 111th Reconnaissance Squadron. The second oldest squadron in the U.S. Air Force, it celebrates its centennial this year.

The Texas Aviation Hall of Fame was established in 1997; every year, it honors famous aviators who are Texans and famous Texans who are aviators.

Hall-of-famers include Howard Hughes, astronauts Alan Bean and Gene Cernan, Lloyd Bentsen, Tom Landry and the Doolittle Raiders from World War II. This year's four hall-of-famers were selected from more than 60 nominees by a panel of aviation historians and experts.